SKINS – GEN 4 – SERIES 7 – 7.07: CLAIRE
Once again, being lazy, sorry about that… Plus side! Formal is taken care of and not really a stressful thing as much anymore, downside, AUDITIONS ARE IN 2 BLOODY DAYS AND I'M FREAKING OUT… AH! Hopefully once absolutely everything that is a pain in the ass is over, I will be writing more, I really hope to that. Anyway, Chapter 3.
Tony stood up in the middle aisle of the bus, "Right! Listening up! It's about an 8-hour trip; there should be about 2 breaks and a movie or 2 playing. If anybody does repetitive and annoying shit, they will fail college, understood? Oh and Doug has some game or something…"
Doug nodded and stood up, "If I could have everyone's attention please! I think you're going to like this! We are going to play bus bingo!"
Everyone shuffling towards they're seats stopped and frowned, turning around to Doug with looks of bewilderment.
The way this is going to work is, the driver is putting a number on the screen now and you will text me five numbers you have chosen between 1 and 90, and I will read out random numbers, and should you're five numbers be picked, you yell out bingo! And come down here to claim your prize!"
"What's the prize?" yelled out someone from the back.
"A special treat from Doug's special box!" he yelled back.
Gemma widened her eyes and yelled out, "Not Pedophilic at all!"
To which the whole bus had a giggle at.
"None of that thank you Ms. Rockett!" he yelled back. The bus driver handed him a microphone, to which he spoke into, "Right, that's a bit better, so start sending in your numbers! Names too please!"
Gemma looked up the front to where Tony gave her a smirk and sat down in his seat next to Ms. Rogers.
"Quick, quick! Pass me your phone!" said Kenan up the back of the bus.
One of the lads passed his phone over and they all started to giggle as Kenan ducked behind the chair with the phone.
Kelly frowned and looked around to Doug reading out, "Yes! That's it, getting people in now! Conrad, Liz, Lola, Nikki, Burt, Hayley, Jamal, L… alright, very funny, who sent the picture of male genitalia?" he yelled out holding up his phone, to which the lads on the backseat started falling back into the chairs laughing in tears, and one in particular rolled onto the floor.
Kelly huffed, "Funny?"
Kenan wiped a tear away, "Lighten up a bit Sis, everyone's seen my cock."
"You're such a fucking joke, Kenan." Said Kelly shaking her head.
"I'm not a joke," he said extending his arms to the boys around him, "I'm part of the crew!"
"Yeah!" they yelled out, "My boi!"
Kelly smiled, "Backseat bandits?"
"You know it," said Daye with a grin.
Kelly turned to him now, "Backseat wankers more like it." She said making a tossing off motion before turning around and walking away.
"Wouldn't mind one of them Kels," he said as the lads began to holler, "Woo! Give us a handy babes!"
Kenan gave him a shove, "Watch it you fuckers, that's my sister."
"She's fit ain't she Keenster." Said Rudy giving a haughty laugh, as Kenan jumped over the seat and grabbed Rudy around the nick as he began punching him and they hollered more.
Kelly walked down through the aisles of seats to where she saw Hayley laughing at one of Paulie's impressions. She quickly flicked her eyes up to Kelly and then back, trying to looks as if she hadn't seen her.
Kelly's eyes darted to the floor as she walked on and saw Gemma sitting next to Claire, which was easily enough expected. She bit her lip trying to think whom she could sit next to, there was a tonne of people from Netball who she had talked to occasionally, but they'd all have other people. But Dean and Drew would be sitting next to each other and… Ken wasn't on camp, she could sit next to Sam, perfect, they weren't always too tight but it would do.
She shuffled down the seats until she saw Sam's hair to her right and smiled walking up, but Drew was already sitting next to her.
He saw Kelly's face and tried to look her in the eye but didn't do awfully well, "Hi Kelly, Um… have you… got a seat?"
"No," said Kelly as she shuffled forward more dropping them in the middle of a conversation.
"She alright?" asked Drew.
Sam shook her head, "She'll be fine," before reaching forward into her bag and getting out a travel cushion.
Kelly saw Dean, sitting on his own, fiddling with something in front of him, she sighed and dropped into the seat next to him.
"Hello kiddums," he said turning to face her, "coming to sit next to Deany?"
"Before you think I'm coming on to you, it's a last resort." Said Kelly quickly.
"Cheers Kels; makes me feel heaps better." He said with a fake smile.
Kelly stared at the chair in front of her for a while before she spoke, "Dean? Does everyone hate me for some reason?"
Dean didn't turn to face her as he flicked through his iPod, "Not as much as they hate me."
"Why would they hate you?" asked Kelly turning to face him.
"Same reason you hate me, I'm a dickfuck and I piss everyone off." He said.
"I don't… hate you." She said.
"You said yourself, last resort, and just so you know, I think I'm a dickfuck more than anyone else does, and I don't actually want to fuck you right now for future reference, so thanks for the condolences. So tell me why your life is so shit right now Kelly?" he asked.
"I'm kind of a bitch to everyone, Sam, Hayley, I'm not too sure what I did but they all hate me." She said.
"They don't hate you, things could be a lot worse, you get by." He said as he started to put his headphones in.
"What are you going to do this bus trip then?" she asked.
"Hopefully," he said, "fall asleep listening to dubstep, and forget that all my friends even exist."
"Dean? What are you trying so hard to shut out?" asked Kelly.
Dean paused his music and turned to Kelly, "That everybody thinks shit of me, and nobody ever thinks I'll amount to anything good." He said, and with that he closed his eyes and laid his head back on the chair and Kelly soon turned to face the front frowning.
The trip was an hour in, and the loud noises had settled down a bit, except for the boys up the back, and Hollie sat quietly doing nothing just like she had at the start of the trip.
Gemma had hardly said a word to her, she had said more to the boy sitting opposite her, some of it standing on the edge of flirtatious.
Gemma now stared at the TV screen at the front of the bus playing Billy Madison and let out a smirk as her eyes were glued to the screen. Claire stared at her face, warm, and soft to touch.
"Gemma?" said Claire.
"Mmm?" said Gemma still staring at the screen.
Claire hesitated, "Are we gonna talk?"
"About what?" asked Gemma.
Claire drew a breath in, "I dunno… stuff?"
Gemma turned to Claire and gave her a puzzled look, "You gotta tell me what you want to talk about first."
"Ok then…" said Claire, "Never mind."
"Are you ok?" asked Gemma.
Claire nodded.
"Sure?" she said, but Claire just sat there. Gemma's lip hung open for a minute before she turned back to the screen.
"I love you," said Claire looking back at Gemma, but Gemma didn't hear it and Claire turned back to face out the window.
"I think it's my lifelong dream, to own a personal vending machine, now before you say anything about my poor quality dreams, if you think about it, it would be a pretty amazing thing to have in your home, can you just imagine that, I'd make it all silver and crisp, actually I'd like a pool, not like a public one on the roof, like my own personal one once again, but I'm not sure I could move back to a house cause I've gotten to use to it, are you ok?" Drew said without pausing for breath.
"That kind of came out of nowhere." Said Sam with a giggle.
"Well aren't most of the things I say?"
"Sorry for not really listening," said Sam.
Drew smiled, "Not many people do, I'm just glad to be there. You'll see him next week and he is happy that you're here anyway."
"I just feel… everything is just bad."
"Love sucks?" asked Drew, "I know how you are feeling, absolutely alone yet absolutely surrounded."
"Yeah…" said Sam.
"At least you have somebody, even if there not here. The worst thing there is in the world is being on your own, throughout everything that's what I still hate the most, well… second most." He said still with a smile.
"You're not on your own, you've got me," she said with a smile.
Drew smirked, "I appreciate it, but… I am on my own, nobody is there to help anymore."
"Well what's wrong?" said Sam with a worried look.
"Exactly," said Drew, "you wouldn't know the first place to start."
"Let me help you Drew, tell me what's wrong," she said getting more and more worried.
"But Ken is absolutely amazing," said Drew, "that artwork was just so gorgeous, hang onto him Sam, because he really loves you, and you may miss him, but he's still with you… you should text him, that will help you out, and we're going snowboarding tomorrow! Snowboarding! Well… the cool cats like you and me anyway," he said nudging her.
Sam immediately began to laugh, unaware of how quickly Drew had steered her away, and why he had done it.
Ms. Rogers barked names out as they stood in the freezing col.
"It has to be snowing… now." Said Paulie with his hands around his elbows.
"Room 4. Kelly Dawson, Hayley McDonnell, Samantha O'Keefe, Gemma Rockett and Claire Valentino." She yelled out.
"That's us," said Gemma chirpily as she picked up her bag and began walking up the hill towards the cabins.
"Oh my freaking goodness, how much longer do we have to stand here!" moaned Paulie.
"Paulie, word of advice," said Drew, "Moaning doesn't make it go faster."
"No," said Paulie, "But the vibrations of my voice, warms my bollocks up just the right amount to keep them from dropping like a pair of frozen marbles."
"Room 12. Drew Martin, Paulie Preston and Dean Winton." She yelled again.
"Finally, race for top bunk?" asked Paulie.
Drew smiled, "You're on," as they began bolting up the hill, while Dean casually walked behind.
Dean reached the balcony out the front of the cabin and looked at the snowy hill below him, and sighed before entering the cabin where Paulie was searching through the cupboards and Drew unpacking his bag.
"Sorry Dean, you didn't run! No top bunk for you!" said Paulie slapping him on the shoulder.
Dean just shrugged without any emotion.
"Naw, cheer up buddy," said Paulie, "there's drinkies in the mini-fridge."
"Fuck's sake Paulie!" said Drew, "I told you not to tell him, we're gonna get into shit for that now."
Dean frowned and looked at Drew, "You just assumed I was going to steal them?"
Drew opened his mouth rather taken back by Dean's comment and now feeling regret for saying the statement.
Dean shook his head as he began to take off his shirt, "I'm hitting the hay."
"What?" asked Drew, "It's the first night and it's not even 10 o'clock, what's got you in such a shit mood already?"
"Doesn't matter, I don't give a fuck, I'm going to bed, if you're going to talk, then keep it down."
"What's wrong Dean?" said Paulie.
"You two, goodnight." Said Dean, turning to face the wall and ceasing conversation there.
Drew fondled his shirt in his hands while he frowned staring away from Dean.
Neither Paulie or Drew had expected this, it had just come out of nowhere, Dean was suddenly incredibly upset, and they had no idea why, but now they were certain to feel bad, because he said it was there fault, neither of them ever expected any emotion from rough as guts Dean, but this time he wasn't just angry, he was upset, and they'd just made it worse.
Claire lay in her rather poorly made bed with the covers off, in a thin white dress. The girls had stayed up chatting till about 1, they would have stayed up later, but the bus trip probably wore them down.
Now it was about 4 and only Claire still lay awake, tired, but unable to go to sleep, just upset.
She stood up quietly out of bed, that was one advantage Claire had, moving around like a ghost and never being heard.
She looked at the bed above her, in which Gemma lay sprawled across, her legs spread like an athlete with an arm dangling over the side and her mouth open with a bit of drool hanging out.
"Let me get that for you sweetie," Claire whispered as she grabbed a tissue by the side of the bed and dabbed Gemma's face.
Claire smiled as she ran her hand through Gemma's hair, like running it through a quiet pond.
Claire placed the tissue in the bin and quietly walked towards the door. She moved it open slightly and looked back to the sleeping girls before leaving the room, shutting the door softly behind her.
The wind howled rather loudly through the night as snow began to blow throughout the place, all the cabins remained quiet, as everyone was asleep and Claire moved slowly up along the balcony, until she reached a little break between the cabins and a wide open part of the hill capped with feet of snow, slowly ascending up the hill.
Claire walked out into the dead of the night, rather cold, especially in a thin white dress, with an extreme risk of frostbite looming ahead, but she didn't really mind, she had been here once a year due to her family vacations, and already knew the place well enough.
Claire stood out in the middle of the snow, away from the cabins and in the middle of the snow. The light from the snow seemed to reflect up against her, and she twirled with her arms extended in the white brilliance, and smiled amongst the delicate beauty.
She thought of Gemma, the way they contrasted, fire and ice, Claire was the soft, snow-like beauty, and Gemma was the fiery and ravishing, passionate figure. Gemma to Claire was already perfect, and she imagined Gemma there right now, with her arms around her… spinning slowly around in the snow, as flames twirled around the two as they danced.
Then Gemma would move in close, close her eyes and place her lips upon Claire's, and Claire would feel safe and loved.
But as Claire opened her eyes, she was once again on her own, and she dropped her arms by her side and stood there as the wind howled once more.
She turned her head to the right to see a figure, sitting down and leaning up against the wall down by the cabins, a few meters away.
The figure stood up and began walking towards Claire. The snow made it hard to see, but as the figure came closer, Claire saw it was Drew, much more rugged up then she was.
"What are you still doing awake?" she asked.
"I could ask you much the same question, but we could probably both take a guess."
"How long have you been sitting there?" she asked.
"All night. You don't look like you've been able to last 5 minutes," he said looking at her lack of warm clothes.
"Yeah," she said, "It is awfully cold."
Drew took off his jacket and wrapped it around her arms, as they sat down.
"Are you sure?" asked Claire.
Drew nodded, "The cold has never affected me, I like it, I like a lot of strange things."
"I like strange things too," said Claire, "It's strange for me to like Girls."
Drew smirked, "I don't know how people could find that strange, girls are beautiful."
Claire turned to Drew, "They are aren't they? And we're both foreign, not really English."
"Yeah," said Drew looking up at the sky.
"Drew, I think you're a lot more then what most people see."
Drew smiled looking up at her, "Thank you, I wish people could see that like you, Claire."
They both looked ahead of them, Claire down at the snow and Drew up at the night sky, the cold now having less of an effect.
"I know we probably both have stuff on our minds, but can we just sit here… and not talk, just appreciate… this?" he asked.
"Yeah," said Claire, "Yeah, we can."
They sat there as the wind began to howl across the mountains more, and Drew stuck his arm around Claire's shoulder to keep her warm.
Personal things! It's 1:23 in the morning now :S Though it kind of doesn't really feel like it. I have to get up at 8:30 tomorrow morning, which I'm not looking forward to at all, but hopefully I can just get the auditions done quickly on Monday, and I'll tell you guys how I went. Chapter 4 up soon!